Malloy to make big economic development announcement at noon today

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to make a major economic development announcement at noon today at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Jackson Laboratory research institute next to the UConn Health Center in Farmington.

The Governor’s office did not release further details about the announcement, which will be made before about 200 dignitaries, researchers, civic leaders and others at the construction site for the 189,000-square-foot research center.

The billion-dollar facility, which is expected to open in the fall of 2014, is being touted as one of the keys to Connecticut’s bioscience initiative. Malloy and the General Assembly approved $291 million in funding last October to help build the genomic research facility and subsidize research there for the next decade.